The Etude magazine and the archetyping of American musical women, 1886-1926

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2010-08

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Abstract

This document looks to a popular music periodical to assess trends in the portrayal of musical women of America. The Etude (1883-1957) was established by Theodore Presser as a piano pedagogy magazine. Women saw The Etude as a lifeline of musical information because the journal was delivered directly to their homes. As the magazine grew, its themes diversified, but one element remained constant: its ties to the genteel music tradition. Genteelism in music stressed cultivated music as morally uplifting, thus implicating elitism. This in turn greatly impacted the depiction of women. The date range of 1886-1926 is a particularly interesting period because of the rapid social changes that America faced in this era, which can be seen both in the evolution of The Etude as well as the portrayal of femininity in popular media. I employ the term “archetyping” in this thesis to explain a dynamic process whereby interested parties create and negotiate the depiction of a specific group of individuals. In contrast to negatively-portrayed stereotypes, archetypes are sympathetic, multi-dimensional, and idealized figures. The Etude depicted generalized women, but the embodiment of said archetypes was seen in actual readers and contributors. Each chapter addresses a distinctive archetype that defines feminine characteristics in a specific period of the publication‟s history. Chapter Two looks at gentility and the piano girl (1886-1891), Chapter Three discusses the idealization of the domestic music maker (1892-1901), Chapter Four investigates virtuosity and the “New Woman” (1901-1915), and Chapter Five seeks to understand the breakdown of archetyping in the wake of Modernism (1915-1926). In addition to exploring the evolving archetypes and historical paradoxes seen in this conservative journal, this thesis includes an extensive appendix that catalogs important names, dates, and information pertaining to women in The Etude. By analyzing The Etude's portrayals of women, we can better understand and nuance the changing perspectives of women in society during this era. Fin de siècle America‟s vision of women did not solely feature New Women and Suffragettes; The Etude's readers were drawn to conservative genteel figures. This thesis, through the study of the portrayals of women in one important music journal during an era of intense gender contestation, will increase our understanding of the history of genteel domestic music making traditions.

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Keywords

Genteelism, Women musicians

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